11th Generation (Anna Lucia, Frank,Jr.)

Anna Lucia Evarone (b.3-17-1921–d.4-6-1923) and infant brother Frank Evarone (b.5-19-1926–d.5-21-1926) were the first and third child of Edith Anna (née Spencer)  and Frank (b.8-22-1898–d.12-29-1986) Evarone. Frank, the children’s father, was born in Italy and came to America when he was seven years old. He did not speak English when he arrived. His parents and he settled in Providence, R.I. Edith Anna (6-12-1898–12-8-1991), the first daughter of William J.B. and Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer was the first Spencer in Rhode Island since the 1600s to marry outside of the Yankee tradition, move away and raise her children outside of the ancestral homeland area of Rhode Island.   Frank met Edith at a dance in Providence, Rhode Island.  Frank and Edith lived with Frank’s parents in Providence when they were first married. Their first child Anna Lucia–named after her paternal grandmother, Anna Luccia and her maternal great-grandmother, Anna Maria–died of spinal meningitis when she was two years old.  Anna Lucia died at Rhode Island Hospital on April 6, 1923 as there was no medicine for that illness at that time in history. In 1926 Edith and Frank’s first son, Frank, Jr., was born and lived only two days. Anna Lucia and infant Frank are buried in the Spencer family cemetery (E.G.No.9) on Middle Road in East Greenwich, R.I.

Audrey Mae’s eldest daughter’s Memoirs written in 2003 : “A sadness that never left Mother was her sister’s, Edith’s, first child dying at age two. Mother still cried whenever she thought of Aunt Edith’s child.”

No. 38 Frank Evarone, Jr.

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According to Audrey Mae’s artistic cemetery map diagram and Audrey Mae’s gravestone numbering system, infant Frank Evarone, Jr.’s gravestone is Gravestone Number Thirty-Eight in the Spencer family cemetery on Middle Road. He shares this stone with his older sister Anna Lucia who died three years before Frank, Jr. was born and died. Using her Smith-Corona typewriter in the 1980s, Audrey Mae typed the following one sentence mini-biography of infant Frank Evarone, Jr., an eleventh-generation Spencer in the East Greenwich area of Rhode Island, through his mother, Edith Anna (née Spencer) Evarone. Frank, Jr. was the first grandson of William J.B. and Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer.

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Frank, Jr., born in 1926 is the first son of Edith Anna (née Spencer) Evarone and Frank Evarone.

Edith Anna is the first daughter of William J. B. Spencer who is the second son of John Johnson Spencer  and Anna Maria (pronounce Mar-eye-ah) Spencer (shared gravestone No. 8 in the Spencer family cemetery on Middle Road in East Greenwich).  Anna Maria is the daughter of Richard Anthony Spencer (gravestone No. 7)  who is the first son of Richard Anthony (“Deacon”) Spencer (gravestone No. 5).  “Deacon” Richard, as he was called, was the sixth child of Huldah (gravestone No. 1)  and Patriot John Spencer (gravestone No.2).

Audrey Mae’s mini-biography of Frank, Jr.  is “born 1925 and lived three days”, but his gravestone had his date of birth and death as 1926.  Audrey Mae, Edith Anna’s younger sister, was a young teen when Frank, Jr. died.

Found in Edith Anna (née Spencer) Evarone’s possessions after she died at age ninety-three (December 8, 1991) was a notepad with the following dates: 1926 Edith went to hospital, May 18. baby born May 19, died May 21, buried May 23 (2 days old) Sunday. Edith came home May 30. Sunday. 1926 Edith & Frank & family started for Ca. Sept. 28 Tuesday in afternoon about 2, 1926.” Web site author is unsure who wrote the information on the notepad but the penmanship looks like the writing of Edith Anna’s mother, Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer.

Four months after the death of Frank, Jr., Edith and Frank, along with their second daughter, Gloria Mae and Frank’s parents, Giacchino and Anna Luccia (née Decola) Evarone, started for California on 9-28-1926. Edith and Frank and Frank’s parents lived their lives in California never returning to Rhode Island to live.

Frank, Jr. and his sister Anna Lucia and their maternal great-grandparents, their great,great-grandfather, their great great, great-grandparents and their great, great, great, great-grandparents are buried in the Spencer family cemetery on Middle Road.  However, Frank, Jr.’s and Anna Lucia’s parents and both sets of grandparents are not. Their maternal grandparents are buried in a neighboring town of Coventry, Rhode Island. Their parents and paternal grandparents are buried in California. Both Edith and Frank are buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, but their first son and first daughter, representing 11th-generation Spencers in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, are memorialized with their burial in the Spencer family cemetery, East Greenwich historical cemetery No. 9 on Middle Road.

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Photo Taken around year 2000 (A Spencer descendant placed an angel symbol in front of headstone)

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Photo Taken around year 2002

No. 38 Anna Lucia Evarone

no-38-anna-lucia-infant-frank-dsc_0269According to Audrey Mae’s artistic cemetery map diagram and Audrey Mae’s gravestone numbering system, Anna Lucia Evarone’s gravestone is Gravestone Number Thirty-Eight.  She shares this stone with her infant brother Frank Evarone, Jr.’s who was born three years after her death. Using her Smith-Corona typewriter in the 1980s, Audrey Mae typed the following mini-biography of the child Anna Lucia, an eleventh-generation Spencers in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, through her mother, Edith Anna (née Spencer) Evarone.

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Although Anna Lucia is the name written on the gravestone, one of the Evarone children remembers that Anna Lucia was named Anna Luccia after her paternal grandmother.

When Edith Anna was in her 80s, she showed her niece a pocketbook (purse) that belonged to  Anna Lucia.  The child died in 1923 and Edith Anna had moved 3000 miles away from her life in Rhode Island, but keeping Anna Lucia’s purse was Edith Anna’s way of keeping Anna Lucia with her forever.

When Audrey Mae was in her 90s, she told one of her daughters that the saddest day of her life was when her niece, Anna Lucia (pronounced Anna Seal), died.  Audrey Mae had just turned twelve years and Anna Lucia was only two and had been living in the Spencer household along with Audrey Mae, her aunt.  One of Audrey Mae’s granddaughters, Amber Joy, to this day–November 2012– displays a framed photo of Audrey Mae at age twelve standing by her young niece, Anna Lucia, shortly before the child died.

 

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Anna Lucia and Aunt Audrey Mae @ 1922-23

Photos of Audrey Mae and Anna Lucia on the front steps of 742 Washington Street, Anthony Section of Coventry, Rhode Island.  Anna Lucia was the first grandchild of William J.B. Spencer and Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer. William J.B. is the second son of Anna Maria (pronounce Mar-eye-ah)  and John Johnson Spencer.

 

 

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Anna Lucia Evarone and Aunt Audrey Mae

The Rhode Island family continues to refer to Anna Lucia as Anna Seal as that is how the two year old child pronounced her own name.  She did not live long enough to outgrow that early speech pattern or her childhood pronunciation attempts. The name continues today in Rhode Island as a term of endearment. “Lu” is a more advanced form of speech than “cia” and the Rhode Island family never went beyond that either.  When Edith Anna visited her Rhode Island family, she would refer to Anna Lucia as Anna Seal and it was only when talking with the Anna Lucia’s California siblings that one realizes the name change was only internalized in the Rhode Island psyche.  The California siblings had no awareness of the Rhode Island relatives referring to Anna Lucia as Anna Seal.

The loss of an infant or child can never be over exaggerated.  For that reason the author of spencerhistoricalcemetery.org and the vaughnhistoricalcemetery.org has a separate page or separate recognition for each person in the Spencer family cemetery and the Vaughn family cemetery.  Whether a person lives only two or three days or two years or longer, the loss as well as the presence of the child stays with the family of origin forever. Therefore, whether a person lives to age ninety-one as Richard Anthony (“Deacon”), the children’s great,great,great-grandfather did or only three days as Anna Lucia’s brother Frank, Jr. did ,each person is worthy of recognition on these web sites for their contribution to this family.  Memories do not die; memories live on with descendants.

Progression of Corrosion on Evarone Headstone from 2002to 2012:

Over time, moss or mold or something is damaging the finish on the Evarone headstone. The following gravestone photos show the spread of the corrosion by 2000, by 2002 and the advanced corrosion by year 2012.  Photos of baby and child’s gravestone were taken at different times of the year in 2000 & 2002 & 2012.

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Photo Taken around year 2000 (A Spencer descendant placed an angel symbol in front of headstone)

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Photo Taken around year 2002

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Photo taken 2012 shows advanced corrosion over time

If any web site reader knows how to clean this headstone, please add a comment to this website.  Descendants get mixed messages.  Some “experts” say cleaning the stone with harsh chemicals will only make it worse. Other “experts” say safe headstone cleaners are out there. Other “experts” say need to buy a new gravestone,  but that would be counterproductive.  There is memorabilia in the age of the stone as this is an historical cemetery.  Web site author is unsure when marker was purchased.  Perhaps in the 1950s when the children’s mother came east for her own mother’s memorial service because Mary Jane’s gravestone is corroding at the same rate.  The children’s gravestone as well as their maternal grandmother’s gravestone look the same, even though they are are in different burial grounds.

The corrosion really bothered the children’s aunt, Audrey Mae, so please add a comment to the website if the web site reader knows how to solve this corrosion problem.  Remember, this gravestone lives in the extreme New England weather.

 

“Spencer descendants, if you have any additional information on child, Anna Lucia Evarone or infant, Frank Evarone, Jr., please add a comment to this web site and the web site editor will add this to the site.  Thanks!”